Secret guns have also been captured in the newly-released aerial shots that have been analysed in Washington

The strategic bases will give China the ability to deploy combat aircraft and other military assets with terrifying efficiency across the disputed region, news.com.au reports.

The long-running South China Sea dispute circles around claims from several sovereign states over the waters and its islands, through which an estimated $5trillion of trade passes through.

Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam also claim the waters should be classed as their own.

Earlier this year it was reported that China is “stealing” the oil and gas rich South China Sea region and it is too late for Trump and the US to stop them.

The US wants the territory to remain as international waters, sparking fears a war could break out if China starts acting aggressively.

The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) analysed recent satellite photos and concluded that runways, aircraft hangers, radar sites and hardened surface-to-air missile shelters have either been finished or are nearing completion.

China has constructed enough concrete hangers for 24 fighter jets and four or five larger planes such as bombers or early warning aircraft.

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The report, released this week, appears to be the most conclusive indication yet that China is using its island-building project to give teeth to its claim over almost the entire South China Sea and its islands and reefs.

Ashley Townshend, a research fellow at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, said: “It confirms what we’ve known for a long time.

“Beijing intends to turn these artificial outposts into military footholds that will provide it with power projection capability right across the South China Sea.”

“In a crisis, these facilities would significantly complicate US war plans and access to the South China Sea at acceptable levels of cost and risk.

“There’s also a more important day-to-day implication: these new military outposts allow China to dramatically extend its strategic reach from its southern shores down to Indonesian waters, creating a new strategic status quo and a Chinese sphere of influence.

“Beijing, in other words, is seeking to become the dominant military power in this part of the world with a capacity to prevent, deny or veto other countries from accessing these waters.”

Ashley Townshend, a research fellow at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, said: “Beijing intends to turn these artificial outposts into military footholds.”

China already uses an existing airfield on Woody Island in the similarly disputed Paracel chain, located to the north, where it has maintained mobile HQ-9 surface-to-air missiles for more than a year and deployed anti-ship cruise missiles on at least one occasion.

The combination of the existing base in the north with the new islands in the south means China’s military can now operate over the entire sea at the drop of a hat.

The man-made islands in the South China Sea have drawn strong criticism from the US and others, who accuse Beijing of further militarising the region.

China says its island construction is mainly for civilian purposes, particularly to increase safety for ships that carry an estimated $5 trillion worth of goods through the waterway each year.

It has also provided reassurances that it will not interfere with freedom of navigation or flight, although questions remain as to whether that includes military ships and aircraft.

A photo from last July shows a Chinese frigate launching a missile during the exercise in the South China Sea

“The Chinese argument that they have most to gain from unfettered ‘freedom of navigation’ in the South China Sea, and would therefore not block commercial shipping, is a solid argument.

“But the reality of the situation in the South China Sea is that China will have the capacity, and has demonstrated the will, to use its presence on these artificial islands to intimidate and coerce other militaries, coastguards and fishing fleets.”

China has refused to confirm speculation over whether it plans to declare an air defence identification zone over the South China Sea as it has done already over international airspace in the East China Sea.

The US has refused to recognise the East China Sea zone, which requires aircraft to declare their flight plans, identify themselves to Chinese traffic monitors and follow their instructions.

A US Navy plane and a Chinese war jet were involved in a terrifying near-miss in the region in February.

Images released last year also suggested China has vastly extended its military scope in the South China Sea.